This panna cotta has a soft, wobbly texture and a creamy vanilla flavor. A quick red berry and lemon coulis adds a fresh note to every spoonful.
Panna cotta literally means ‘cooked cream’ and is a dessert from Piedmont in northern Italy. The base is simple: cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. With so few ingredients, their proportions and the quality of the vanilla really stand out. This recipe keeps the flavor classic and serves the pudding with a light red berry sauce; the fruit provides a fresh counterpoint and isn’t part of the cream itself.
Gelatin gives panna cotta its signature soft, quivering texture. With 6 grams for 500 milliliters of cream, the pudding is firm enough to turn out of a mold, but not rubbery. Gelatin sheets need to soak in cold water first. Heat the cream until it’s hot and steaming, but don’t let it boil: boiling isn’t necessary and can reduce the cream more than you want. Take the pan off the heat before stirring in the squeezed-out gelatin, so it dissolves gently.
A vanilla bean adds aroma and tiny seeds to the cream. Split it lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; let both the seeds and the pod steep in the warm cream. Remove the pod before dividing the cream. If you’re using vanilla extract, stir it into the cream after heating instead. The flavor is a little different, but you won’t need a vanilla bean.
Allow at least four hours for the panna cotta to set in the refrigerator, preferably a little longer if you want to turn it out of its mold. Make the coulis while it sets or on the day you plan to serve it: gently heated fruit softens and is easy to mash, while a squeeze of lemon juice makes the sweet berries taste a little brighter. Strawberries and raspberries work well; use frozen fruit out of season and let it thaw first. Strain the sauce if you’d rather not have any seeds.
Serve the panna cotta chilled, with the coulis on top or alongside. A small glass is handy if you don’t want to turn out the pudding; in that case, you can use the same amount of gelatin and eat the desserts straight from the glass. If you want to serve them on plates, gently loosen the molds with a thin knife and dip the outside in warm water for a few seconds. Keep covered panna cotta in the refrigerator and serve within two days; return any leftovers to the fridge promptly.
Put the gelatin sheets in a bowl of plenty of cold water and leave to soak for 5–10 minutes.
Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Put the heavy cream, 55 g sugar, vanilla seeds and pod in a saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until the cream is very hot and steaming, but don’t let it boil. Take the pan off the heat.
Squeeze out the gelatin sheets and stir them into the warm cream one at a time until fully dissolved. Remove the vanilla pod. Divide the mixture among four molds or glasses, lightly rinsed with cold water, and leave to cool.
Cover the molds once the cream has cooled and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until the panna cotta has set.
Put the red berries, the remaining 15 g sugar and the lemon juice in a small pan. Heat over low heat for 3–5 minutes, until the fruit is soft. Mash it roughly with a fork and leave the coulis to cool. Strain it if desired.
Turn the panna cotta out onto plates by gently loosening the edges and briefly dipping the mold in warm water, or serve it in the glass. Spoon the cooled red berry coulis alongside.
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